I've had pet chickens. My first two was tyson chicks from school. One died a few days later...won't eat or drink...worried me sick, I tryed to give it water but then it died after I gave it some(?)(named chick). The other one(Chick-a-dee) was a hen and lived for a while but then died from heat stroke when the temp. raised to 75..no kidding!!! So then I bought a Barred Rock-hen(Feathers). And a mixed chicken from a friend it was a rooster(Mario). He was white with brown strips on his sides and tail feathers. He died from protecting Feathers from a Hawk :( I got pic.s but I'll have to post them later.Then I bought another rooster-a speckled sussex-and he died too as he went into the woods and a hen that had feathered legs but she got out that same day!!! and got lost in the corn field!! Then I got my last two...Two mixed breeds that had feathered feet..hen(Wednesday) and a rooster(Carmello). They were brething taking! One was solid black and when the sun hit the feathers they turned green. Carmello was black with orange feathers! I'll have to post the pics later. Feathers and Wednesday died sadly from internal bleeding. Our family dog got out and killed them. Carmello ran to the chicken hutch safely while Feathers attacked Cocoa to protect Wednesday. That dog had a grip of a pit! (boxer mix). I would like to get some more..but I don't know about that bird flu stuff. Does that bother you any?

Sorry to hear about all the trouble that you have had trying to keep your chickens alive, Eclipse. You mention them getting sick and dieing on you. Perhaps there is some kind of chicken disease infecting the ground where you are raising them? It's not normal that they continue to die, every different pair that you get.

If you do get chickens again and they become sick or die, I would take the bird in for an autopsy, to try and determine why they quit eating or drinking or die in an unusual way.

I used to show my birds and one time my flock came home with some internal sickness. I had to treat all the chickens, ducks, geese, everyone with some medicine in the water. It's been years and I don't really remember what the problem was, but it went through the whole flock. Luckily I didn't lose any birds, but some were very sick.

The vet thought they had contacted the disease or illness from cages that weren't properly sterilized between shows. It seems that someone had brought in some sick birds and it spread to the birds that used the pens after that.

Basset_Lover

Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color.

Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense. Choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.

that's horrible!! what kind of breeds do you have? do you rasie them or sell them? The other kids at school said their tyson chickens didn't live long. They become very very fat. Their legs are spread out too far and they are meant to be ate before they get that big but I refused and it got to hot and she had a heat stroke. I wish I had a photo! The poor creatures can't get around without brething hard. I really wanted for my hen(the Barred Rock) to hatch chicks but she didn't give her eggs a time of day! Do you feed your flock anything else besides the feed and what the earth gives? My chickens were spoiled! They liked their bread but went crazy over their grapes! They fought over them.lol it was weird to see them jumping over each other for one. I would roll it and they would run to catch it before the other one had the chance!

No, I don't have any chickens, Eclipse. Someday, if I ever have the chance to move from the city limits, I will get a few chickens again.

My chickens ate Purina Lay Mash, cracked corn (depending upon the time of the year), once in awhile I'd give them oats or whatever other food I was feeding the other animals.

If I had good leafy alfalfa hay, I'd take it to them and shake out the hay and the chickens would come running, to scratch and dig in the hay.

Yes, they loved bread, buns, lettuce, whatever vegetable scraps we had from the house. They loved cantaloupe. I'd bring out pieces for them, plus the innards from the cantaloupe. I can still remember listening to my big rooster eating a piece of cantaloupe, he'd coo and talk to it or talk to me while he was eating his goodies.

When I would show him, I always brought in special treats for him, he was the most spoiled bird in the barn, I am sure.

Basset_Lover

Choose your friends by their character and your socks by their color.

Choosing your socks by their character makes no sense. Choosing your friends by their color is unthinkable.

I have Jersey Black Giants and i show them in fairs around here. This was my first year though so i dont know much about them and my first year owning some. We started out with six but sadly two died =(...so now we just have the four. Refer to my other post "Chickens arent laying eggs".

"Dogs arent our best friends...were their best friends" "People can think what they want about Pits...but only a true owner knows!" htt

We got some 4-H chickens once, they never lived past the extension office! I 'm pretty sure they were called White Rock, super fast growing to make them ready for harvest in about 6 weeks. I assume that is why chicken is still cheaper in the store every few weeks. For the project chickens they are caponized, which gives their life chance at slim to none. That was the last capons we bought.

We have had all kinds and colors. I like the barred rocks the best, or the buff are the best behaved. I really like the bug population when we have chickens, no ticks! My favorite thing was watching them swallow a mouse...eek! I had a pet Rhode Island Red hen that followed me around helping me feed the other animals. She knew her name "Henrietta." But, that was many years ago, no chickens now. Do not miss washing those eggs :)

As far as biting, they will peck anything shiny; watch, jewlery, nail polish.